The Southsider

My favorite local «old man» pub in Edinburgh. Cheaper drink prices than most, good music, quick service, plenty of tables and booths, and I even enjoyed their full breakfast. I brought the family here during Christmas time, and they all felt like they were in a «real» pub — and my dad swears he had the best bangers and mash of his life. Much better than anything you’d find on the Royal Mile. Just know what to expect — older crowd, not a huge variety of cocktails, not the fanciest décor… but great beer and a fun time!

Nice pub in Newington, with an excellent pub quiz on Thursdays. Drinks prices at the Southsider are not bad. I tend to get Best for £2.80 or Guinness for £3, but there is also a regularly-​changing selection of ales, so you won’t be struggling to find something you like. The crowd is mixed, both students and older locals, but the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming, and it’s usually easy enough to find a table. The quiz on Thursdays is excellent– challenging, but not impossible. I will definitely be frequenting that in the next few months.
There is food as well, and the prices seem excellent. However, I have not yet tried it, so can’t comment at this point. Will be back.

A no airs and graces pub with two voddies and coke for under a fiver, a quality pub quiz, interesting regulars (one old geezer’s play is to keep dropping his stick when ladies are at the bar to get an eyeful as they bend to pick it up — I respect and salute you sir!), some honest pub grub and cheery staff.
Has had a bit of a bad rep as maybe not being the most welcoming of places to new faces but I’ve never had any hassle and since the refurb sticky tables are pretty much a thing of the past. Plus they have a wee sneaky backroom you can hire for a small function.
So don’t be put off by the smokers outside and pop in for a libation and a bit of harmless banter.

Came in for dinner and a few pints. Really nice atmosphere and lots of locals; definitely off the tourist path enough to have a neighborhood feel. Asked for a good recommendation and was served bacon cheeseburger with haggis and it was very good. Bar staff were incredibly friendly and attentive even as it got busier. Definitely a good place to just chill for a bit, enjoy a pint and catch some sports.

I ate here this past summer and had a great a dish. The smoked haddock and pea risotto for 8.50 quid blew me away. Rich and creamy dish without an overwhelming fishy taste, it was well-​worth the price.
No ciders to peak my interest and we don’t drink ales or beers so cannot comment on that.
A very local place, with crowds watching footie and friendly people at the tables. We struck up a convo with people sitting besides us.

This place has just been revamped, and food and service are all amazing. The place is warm, full of people, and there’s a live cover band going between Americana and brit oldies. Though few people are clapping, I’m hooting. Come on: Bruce– freakin — Springsteen. I’m trying to shame everyone into recognizing how great the band is.
Ok. Let’s get super cereal. The food is better than just pub food. It’s really tasty, with grilled onions and chilli on the sausage, for instance. The walls are a dark red, with vintage prints and things. Not atypical, but nice. There are vamped in the tables, and not in the trying to hard way.

And thus it was here that I first met Haggis.
We needed breakfast, but it was slowly turning into lunch. We stopped in and it wasn’t that busy, save for the table watching football. We sat near the window on a high top table…
They had a special for two pizzas for ten pounds, but I had my eye on a burrito since I had seen one the night before. Ahh, the power of suggestion. I was warned though that Mexican food might not be as Mexican-​y as I’m used to. My husband wanted breakfast and a beer. Our friends got the pizza special.
I am close minded about food. I grew up with my parents trying to trick my into eating liver with blood sauce telling me it was chocolate meat. I think that scarred me a little. My friends were all about the haggis. I didn’t want it. I was told that when we got to the Highlands it would be on every plate I ate. They were on the hunt for haggis pakoras, but for now were getting the haggis on their pizza. My burrito was okay. Whateves… Since my hubby ordered breakfast, out came a slice of haggis with it. He didn’t want it. I thought I should try it… it was there, I was there. It made sense… WOW. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Plus, I was told that it wasn’t even the best my friends had eaten. I needed more. And from then on, I tried to have it with every meal. True story.
Okay, back to the bar… I thought it was pretty good, but that might be because I was on a meat high. There were no complaints from my companions.

YIKES.
Bleak, absolutely bleak. Came here on a Thursday because of a meeting at 8 o’clock and yikes. No bueno. Sticky floors, sticky bar, sticky tables and sticky people (all three of them). The place was rather empty, save a couple of older men, now that’s not to say it’s a bad pub, but it did make the ambiance a little uncomfortable.
Bar-​staff was lovely, if a little rough. Drinks? Meh… ish. Sorry, I just don’t see the appeal of this place when you’ve got spots like the Southern, Elephant House and Under the Stairs so close-​by. There’s simply no need for it.
Nope, I’m not coming back here again. Steer well clear.

The Southsider is your typical pub. Nothing too special about it whatsoever. The bonus is cheap drinks, and ample seating. I would definitely agree with previous reviews that it’s missing something. There’s not much soul to the place if that makes any sense whatsoever.
The food is meh. I’m not very impressed with burgers in Edinburgh in general, but this one was below even those standards.
Despite the mediocre food and bland surroundings, I still find myself here on suggestions from mates. I suppose it’s not that bad if I still go there.
*If you’re here during festival, they have dirt cheap Carlsberg. One of the only pubs that lowered their prices instead of raised them.

Surprisingly large (it goes back a lot further than you’d expect, to a decent looking den that can probably be reserved for functions etc.) this was quiet on a Monday night but no complaints there. 4 ales on tap (Caley 8o, Deuchars & 2 guests) and the usual other suspects in terms of lagers, ciders & spirits. Comfy seats and probably not a bad option for somewhere to watch the football on telly.

A decent place for a quiet drink, but seems awfully spendy for Embra.
But just what I need between 100 meetings: a decent ale and a corner to sit in.
This poor place is missing something… could it be a bit of soul? Aside from the ale selection, there’s little to distinguish it from any other pub in Britain.

Wished I was able to give a better review of this place, but sad to say was not impressed. My mother and I dropped in for a bar lunch we sat and looked at the menu for over 20min before a waitress comes over and askes me for ID — Now I never thought to bring my ID with me as :
1) I was wanting food not to get drunk, and the fact I was 5 months pregnant at that point, would also be a factor of me not needing a drink.
2) I’m 26 years old. Yeah I Maybe should have brought ID with me but they should have addressed this issue as I came in not waiting 20 min !

We liked it there very much. Dropped in occasionally at 7 pm looking for a good place to eat something. The athmosphere was great, the staff friendly and courteous, and the meals very good.

Unusually for a pub located so close to the student campus, the Southsider is filled with a much older crowd. Refreshingly not rammed all the time, it is an okay place to go for a quiet drink, but it lacks character. It always has a slightly dead feel to it, and seeing as it is rarely busy, this just adds to the lack of atmosphere. If you do want to avoid the hustle and bustle of student pubs though, this is a good place to go.
It is actually much bigger than on first glance, with another seating area around the far side of the bar. But these are rarely filled, with the pub being almost empty for large parts of the day. They do show the footie though, which makes the pub a bit busier, and is an okay place to watch it. There is an alright selection of beers too, with a few ales on tap and wines and spirits to fill your alcohol requirements. Not a particularly bad pub, but pretty soulless really.

Just round the corner of the busy and bustling Nicolson Street is the Southsider pub. The Southsider from the outside seems like any other typical Edinburgh pub, but when you get inside the pub it goes beyond the average expectations. The staff are welcoming and the traditional surroundings add to its warm welcome. The bar’s main area is split into two with a couple of seating areas, with the bonus of having a pool room at the back of the pub.
If you fancy a drink at the Southsider then you are spoilt for choice with whiskeys and ales, on top of what you would expect from any other bar. And if you are a slightly peckish then you will not be disappointed with the menu, with it offering pie and beans to salads!
For entertainment, the pub offers one of the hardest pub quizzes in Edinburgh on a Wednesday night. Even though you might need a PHD to win it, the pub is always buzzing on pub quiz night and there is always the bag of sweets for last place! Throughout the week football is shown and there is even a music night with local bands.
The Southsider has its legendary regulars and isn’t over run with students so it has a good mixed atmosphere. So if you want a cheeky wee pint or a dram in a pub full of character then this is the pub for you!

The Southsider was the very first pub I went to as a student in Edinburgh and so I have some fond memories of it. Late that summer’s evening about a hundred of us crammed our way into its doors and flocked to the bar before heading to the legendary Potterow. The drinks were (and still are) pricey, costing about £3.50 for a pint and the same for a single measure of spirit and mixer.
I’ve only been back once since then and wasn’t wooed by either the prices or the other customers. It’s mostly older men who use the pub as their regular which is fine but puts it out of kilter with the rest of the student population.
It has a quiz night which is apparantly very popular and good fun and the food which is advertised outside seems surprisingly well-​priced in comparison to the drinks.
Some of the University sports teams use the pub as a place to pre-​drink in before heading elsewhere but I assume they get discounts on the drinks otherwise they will have extremely expensive nights out!

I used to live on top of this pub but luckily two floors up so we didn’t get too much noise. Apart from Saturday night when the Karaōke night was on, which attracted the local talents. (not) But they are allowed their moment of shine of course.
To be honest the first time I came in here was during a fire alarm in our building. It was raining outside so we thought we would check this pub out. It is quite large inside, with two rooms separated by the central bar. There are booths and tables to sit on. It has a large food menu and the flashy banners outside always advertise the latest food deals. My Scottish friend swears by their sticky toffee pudding but I have yet to try it.
The few times I have been here I was always taken aback by the drinks. My mixed gin and lemonade drink came to about 3.50 with no ice or lemon. The girl just plonked it in front of me and stormed off. Granted we all have our bad days so I didn’t think too much of it until a friend of mine complained about the same girl a few weeks later.
The rooms are separated by narrow corridors making it a bit inconvenient to pass through if there is a large group of people. However, even though this would be a good student meet-​up point (and occasional it is for society meetings) it seems to have a very standard non-​student regulars coming here frequently.
It’s not a special or original pub by any means, but you will always find a corner in this place for a pint. However, what did scare me once was a recent march of the Scottish Defence League somehow ended up here, even though a lot of pubs had agreed not to let this group enter their premises. The outsider seemed to be surrounded by policemen and skin heads. A rather bizarre sight for a quiet pub.

Just around the corner from Lidl sits The Southsider pub. Its location means that it attracts a fair few jakey looking characters, but these old boys are harmless enough — they might even buy you a drink if you smile sweetly in their direction. The bar may not have a spectacular range of drinks, but it is pretty cheap and service is always with a smile. The pub is divided into two with the regulars and old boys taking up residence in one half, leaving the other side with the huge fire relatively quiet and peaceful. They serve food here too, but it’s nothing particularly exciting and there’s certainly nothing on the menu to set it apart from the legions of other pubs serving up cheap grub.

Having been to the Southsider once before two or three years ago for no more than a single drink, a last minute urge to go to a pub quiz had us entering the doors of the crammed pub unsure as what to expect.
The central bar caters for two rooms, one a chill out space with squishy seats and the other a much more classic bar stools and booths affair. A wide range of drinks are served — but be warned, at around £4 a pint for some of the more classy drinks, the Southsider isnt cheap.
On a night when there were so many people crowded into the relativly small pub, the atmosphere was lively and fun, if a bit claustrophobic. This of course wont always be the case, with so many having been in for the live football matches that were being shown on the numerous large (and small) screen televisions. The wednesday night pub quiz was excellently done, and a pool table hidden around a corner provided further entertainment.
The Southsider is a nice pub, with friendly staff and well thought out entertainment — perfect for nights where a pint and a chat or a game of pool are the order of the day. However, the prices are enough to make you stay no longer than that first drink, and is so small that on busy nights it is difficult to get somewhere to sit without invading half the bars personal space.

A typical local pub with a good atmosphere most of the time. Not very crowded on a week day. The bar boasts with a choice of local ales. The seats are very comfy. The last time i was there was to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The service was ok.

Netter, typisch britscher Pub mit Holzboden etc. Hier laeuft auch Fussball und man hat eine grosse Auswahl an Getraenken. Eigentlich ist hier nix besonderes, aber der Pub liegt auf meinem Heimweg weshalb ich hier ofters mal haengenbleibe